No Arabic abstract
Quantum fluctuations and related phase transitions are of current interest from the viewpoint of fundamental physics and technological applications. Quantum phase implies a region where the quantum fluctuations of energy scale $hbaromega$ dominates over the thermal energy $k_B$T. Presence of quantum phase leads to unconventional and unexpected physical phenomena like Kondo effect, non-Fermi liquids, ordered magnetic state, and Fermi liquids, etc. In this framework, Ce-based metallic compounds, exhibiting correlated electron phenomena, emerged as prototypical systems to study the various quantum phases. In these systems considerable efforts have been made, both experimentally and theoretically, to overcome the problems related to the comprehensive understanding of correlated quantum phases. In this article, various aspects related to quantum phases in CeNiGe2, CeGe and CeAlGe are summarized, mainly focusing on the structural and physical properties.
The electronic structures of several actinide solid systems are calculated using the self-interaction corrected local spin density approximation. Within this scheme the $5f$ electron manifold is considered to consist of both localized and delocalized states, and by varying their relative proportions the energetically most favourable (groundstate) configuration can be established. Specifically, we discuss elemental Pu in its $delta$-phase, PuO$_2$ and the effects of addition of oxygen, the series of actinide monopnictides and monochalcogenides, and the UX$_3$, X= Rh, Pd, Pt, Au, intermetallic series.
Muon spin rotation and relaxation ($mu$SR) experiments have yielded evidence that structural disorder is an important factor in many f-electron-based non-Fermi-liquid (NFL) systems. Disorder-driven mechanisms for NFL behaviour are suggested by the observed broad and strongly temperature-dependent $mu$SR (and NMR) linewidths in several NFL compounds and alloys. Local disorder-driven theories (Kondo disorder, Griffiths-McCoy singularity) are, however, not capable of describing the time-field scaling seen in muon spin relaxation experiments, which suggest cooperative and critical spin fluctuations rather than a distribution of local fluctuation rates. A strong empirical correlation is established between electronic disorder and slow spin fluctuations in NFL materials
Moire systems provide a rich platform for studies of strong correlation physics. Recent experiments on hetero-bilayer transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) Moire systems are exciting in that they manifest a relatively simple model system of an extended Hubbard model on a triangular lattice. Inspired by the prospect of the hetero-TMD Moire systems potential as a solid-state-based quantum simulator, we explore the extended Hubbard model on the triangular lattice using the density matrix renormalization group (DMRG). Specifically, we explore the two-dimensional phase space of the kinetic energy relative to the interaction strength $t/U$ and the further-range interaction strength $V_1/U$. We find competition between Fermi fluid, chiral spin liquid, spin density wave, and charge density wave. In particular, our finding of the optimal further-range interaction for the chiral correlation presents a tantalizing possibility.
We construct a quantum Ginsburg-Landau theory to study the quantum phases and transitions in electron hole bilayer system. We propose that in the dilute limit as distance is increased, there is a first order transition from the excitonic superfluid (ESF) to the excitonic supersolid (ESS) driven by the collapsing of a roton minimum, then a 2nd order transition from the ESS to excitonic normal solid. We show the latter transition is in the same universality class of superfluid to Mott transition in a rigid lattice. We then study novel elementary low energy excitations inside the ESS. We find that there are two supersolidon longitudinal modes (one upper branch and one lower branch) inside the ESS, while the transverse mode in the ESS stays the same as that inside a ENS. We also work out various experimental signatures of these novel elementary excitations by evaluating the Debye-Waller factor, density-density correlation, specific heat and vortex -vertex interactions. For the meta-stable supersolid generated by photon pumping, we show that the angle resolved spectrum is dominated by the macroscopic super-radiance from its superfluid component, even it is just a very small percentage of the the whole system. This fact can be used to detect the metastable ESS state generated by photon pumping by a power spectrum experiment easily and without any ambiguity.
In this document, I present a personal view on the heavy-fermion problem, within a phenomenological approach guided by experiments. This review presents a set of historical works which established the ground bases of the thematic during the last decades. An exhaustive and systematic approach is privileged. After a general presentation in Chapter 2, the properties of heavy-fermion paramagnets, antiferromagnets, and ferromagnets are considered in Chapters 3, 4, and 5, respectively. Chapters 6 and 7 are dedicated to two specific compounds, URu$_2$Si$_2$ for which a hidden-order phase constitutes a more-than-thirty-years-old unsolved mystery, and UTe$_2$, where multiple superconducting phases have been discovered in the last two years. Experiments performed using a panel of techniques ranging from microscopic (neutron scattering, NMR, etc.) to thermodynamic (specific heat, magnetization, etc.) and transport (electrical resistivity, etc.) probes, under extreme conditions of low temperatures, intense magnetic fields and high pressures, are reviewed. They show that magnetism plays a central role in the quantum critical properties of heavy-fermion systems. An emphasis is given to the intersite magnetic fluctuations, presented as the driving force for a heavy Fermi liquid, precursor of quantum magnetic criticality ending in magnetically-ordered phases. They are also suspected to drive an unconventional mechanism for superconductivity, which develops in the vicinity of quantum magnetic phase transitions induced under pressure or magnetic field. The appearance of magnetic fluctuations and ultimately magnetic order in heavy-fermion compounds occurs in a nearly-integer-valence regime, in which $f$ electrons have a dual itinerant-localized character. Fermi-surface and valence studies, which give complementary information about this duality, are also considered.